Immunodeficiency News and Research

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Immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent.

Monoclonal antibodies induce long-lasting, protective antiviral immune response

Monoclonal antibodies are the largest class of biotherapeutic drugs. When administered to infected organisms to blunt the propagation of pathogenic viruses, they may also induce a long-lasting and protective antiviral immune response similar to that achieved by vaccination. These results obtained in mice by the "Oncogenèse et Immunothérapie" group at the Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (CNRS/Universités Montpellier 1 and 2), have been published on 10 June in PLoS Pathogens.

14 Jun 2010

ARCA receives approval to commence enrollment of first therapeutic trial using HIV vaccine candidate

News on the progress of a new trial may give new hope to patients with HIV who are dependent on anti-HIV drugs. The AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta has received approval to begin enrollment of the first therapeutic trial ever conducted using a promising HIV vaccine candidate from Atlanta-based, GeoVax Inc, a biotechnology company that creates, develops and tests innovative HIV/AIDS vaccines.

14 Jun 2010

Idenix initiates IDX320 proof-of-concept study for HCV infection

Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of human viral diseases, today announced that it has initiated a 3-day proof-of-concept study of IDX320, a protease inhibitor for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, under a Clinical Trial Application (CTA). The study is evaluating IDX320 in treatment-naive hepatitis C genotype 1-infected patients.

10 Jun 2010

Interim results from PROPEL study of RG7128 submitted as abstract to AASLD for Annual Liver Meeting

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today that the interim results from the PROPEL study conducted by its partner Roche demonstrate that RG7128 triple combination therapy was safe and well tolerated. In that study, the safety profile of RG7128 (1000mg BID or 500mg BID), when administered for 8 or 12 weeks with Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus (ribavirin), the standard of care, was similar to the safety profile of SOC alone.

9 Jun 2010

$Progenics presents Phase 1 PSMA ADC therapy study data for taxane-refractory prostate cancer at ASCO 2010$

Progenics presents Phase 1 PSMA ADC therapy study data for taxane-refractory prostate cancer at ASCO 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today presented the design and rationale of an ongoing phase 1 trial of its prostate-specific membrane antigen antibody drug conjugate (PSMA ADC) therapy at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This phase 1 trial is assessing the safety, tolerability and initial clinical activity of progressively increasing doses of PSMA ADC in patients with progressive, metastatic, hormone-refractory prostate cancer following prior taxane chemotherapy.

8 Jun 2010

Roche's new dual-PCR target HIV-1 viral load test receives FDA approval

Roche Molecular Diagnostics announced today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its new dual-PCR target HIV-1 viral load test to quantify the amount of virus in a patient's blood. The COBAS® AmpliPrep/COBAS® TaqMan® HIV-1 Test, v2.0 is the first quantitative viral load test to amplify and detect two separate regions of a target genome and offers a fully automated and reliable solution for physicians to make informed treatment decisions for HIV-1 patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy.

4 Jun 2010

Universal testing for HIV can do more harm than good

The idea of early detection and cure is appealing. But if the test is unreliable, and the treatment itself harmful, universal testing can do more harm than good.

3 Jun 2010

Research findings advance the effort to develop AIDS vaccine

In findings that contribute to efforts to design an AIDS vaccine, a team led by Scripps Research Institute scientists has determined the structure of an immune system antibody molecule that effectively acts against most strains of human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS.

2 Jun 2010

Progenics presents preclinical data on novel monoclonal antibodies against toxins produced by C. difficile

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the presentation of preclinical data on novel monoclonal antibodies against toxins produced by the bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). The monoclonal antibodies effectively neutralized the cell-killing activities of the toxins in vitro and significantly improved survival in a stringent animal model of C. difficile infection. C. difficile is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea in the United States and represents a growing global public health challenge.

28 May 2010

ARCA receives approval to begin enrollment of first therapeutic trial with GeoVax vaccine

GeoVax Labs, Inc., a biotechnology company that creates, develops and tests innovative HIV/AIDS vaccines, announced today The AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta has received approval to begin enrollment of the first therapeutic trial ever conducted using a promising HIV vaccine candidate from GeoVax, Inc.

28 May 2010

SCID added to the core panel of 29 genetic disorders

On May 21, 2010, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services announced the addition of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency -- commonly known as bubble boy disease -- to the core panel of 29 genetic disorders -- as part of her recommendation to adopt the national Recommended Uniform Screening Panel.

26 May 2010

Research on new types of anti-HIV drugs presented at International Microbicides Conference

Researchers testing a vaginal microbicide based on a new type of anti-HIV drug found it provided monkeys significant protection against infection with a virus similar to HIV, according to a study reported at the International Microbicides Conference in Pittsburgh today.

24 May 2010

GeoVax Labs spotlighted on interactive map posted on the website of Inc. magazine

GeoVax Labs, Inc., a biotechnology company that creates, develops and tests innovative HIV/AIDS vaccines, is spotlighted on an interactive map posted on the website of Inc. magazine.

20 May 2010

Underwriters exercise overallotment option to purchase additional 480,000 shares in Pharmasset offering

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today the underwriters of its recent stock offering have exercised their option to purchase an additional 480,000 shares of common stock. The net proceeds to Pharmasset, Inc., after deducting the underwriting discount, from the sale of these additional shares are expected to be approximately $13.2 million.

18 May 2010

U.S. healthcare practitioners can resume use of Rotarix, says FDA

GlaxoSmithKline announced that the Food and Drug Administration has determined that U.S. healthcare practitioners can resume the use of Rotarix (Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral), effective immediately. This action supersedes the FDA's recommendation from March 22, 2010 and reflects the agency's assessment that the presence of porcine circovirus type 1 in the vaccine poses no safety risk.

15 May 2010

Pharmasset prices underwritten public offering of common stock

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 3,200,000 shares of its common stock at an offering price of $29.00 per share. Pharmasset expects to receive net proceeds, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses, of approximately $87.9 million.

14 May 2010

HIV disease tends to progress at faster rate in infected individuals who consume more alcoholic drinks

HIV disease tends to progress at a faster rate in infected individuals who consume two or more alcoholic drinks a day, according to an important new paper in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

14 May 2010

Chimerix commences first-in-human study of CMX157 for HIV

Chimerix, Inc., a biotechnology company developing orally-available antiviral therapeutics, announced the commencement of a first-in-human study of CMX157, a novel lipid conjugate of the nucleotide tenofovir with in vitro activity against both tenofovir-sensitive and tenofovir-resistant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). CMX157 has the potential to increase efficacy and decrease toxicity as compared to tenofovir, and may enable the creation of new 'one pill, once-a-day', fixed-dose combination regimens for the treatment of HIV infection.

14 May 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals reports net loss of $18.6M in first-quarter 2010

Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced its results of operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

11 May 2010

CVS calls on FDA to suspend use of contaminated rotavirus vaccines

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened a panel of experts to review recent findings that rotavirus vaccines given to infants in the U.S., Rotateq, produced by Merck Pharmaceuticals and Rotarix produced by GlaxoSmithKline, are contaminated with DNA from pig viruses PCV1 and PCV2. On March 22nd the FDA Commissioner asked doctors to suspend use of the Rotarix vaccine due to the contamination. Upon additional testing, Rotateq was also found to be contaminated.

10 May 2010

Immunodeficiency News and Research

Further Reading

Monoclonal antibodies induce long-lasting, protective antiviral immune response

ARCA receives approval to commence enrollment of first therapeutic trial using HIV vaccine candidate

Idenix initiates IDX320 proof-of-concept study for HCV infection

Interim results from PROPEL study of RG7128 submitted as abstract to AASLD for Annual Liver Meeting

Progenics presents Phase 1 PSMA ADC therapy study data for taxane-refractory prostate cancer at ASCO 2010

Roche's new dual-PCR target HIV-1 viral load test receives FDA approval

Universal testing for HIV can do more harm than good

Research findings advance the effort to develop AIDS vaccine

Progenics presents preclinical data on novel monoclonal antibodies against toxins produced by C. difficile

ARCA receives approval to begin enrollment of first therapeutic trial with GeoVax vaccine

SCID added to the core panel of 29 genetic disorders

Research on new types of anti-HIV drugs presented at International Microbicides Conference

GeoVax Labs spotlighted on interactive map posted on the website of Inc. magazine

Underwriters exercise overallotment option to purchase additional 480,000 shares in Pharmasset offering

U.S. healthcare practitioners can resume use of Rotarix, says FDA

Pharmasset prices underwritten public offering of common stock

HIV disease tends to progress at faster rate in infected individuals who consume more alcoholic drinks

Chimerix commences first-in-human study of CMX157 for HIV

Progenics Pharmaceuticals reports net loss of $18.6M in first-quarter 2010

CVS calls on FDA to suspend use of contaminated rotavirus vaccines

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